Recent talks on biofuels have outlined their un-sustainability in the production phase; commodities such as corn, rapeseed, palm oil and soya are being grown and harvested in a way that could have negative economic, social and environmental effects, and have a global impact on land use, food security, water resources, deforestation and global markets.
My paper looks at alternatives to agricultural commodities for biofuel production and focusing on 2 ways of producing oils suitable for biofuels extracted from fish waste and algae. The paper has recently been published on the FAO FSN forum (Global Forum on Food Security and Nutrition Policies and Strategies)
I invite you to read the paper by clicking here and leave your comments or suggestions below.
Tony Piccolo – Aquatic Biofuel Specialist, July 17, Rome
Aquatic Biofuel Specialist
Tony,
I am excited to discover your website. If you respond, I will send you some photos of my fish & oyster aqufarm, all on land. I depend on the fish to culture phytoplankton in ponds and I pump the pond water through raceways to not only feed the shelfish but to convert ammonia & nitrites from both species into nitrates that return to enhance the cultures. Where your passion and mine will meet is when I have installed an anaerobic biodigester to be fed with high carbon, aerobically-derived compost that untilizes the fish guts and other wastes. Of course, after stripping the methane & CO2 — the former to run a generator, the latter to also enhance the cultures –from the digester, the remaining sludge will be the basis for a fish feed. I say “basis” because I will be adding algae, maggots and molasses (imported cheap from Fiji) to the sludge-feed. The algae is grown in the waste water from fish tanks as compared to fish ponds. A grant from FAO has been approved to further this work.
Kia manuia,
Tap Pryor
Manager,
Titikaveka Growers Association
Rarotonga, Cook Islands